Lawsuit over D39 referendum dismissed

December 10, 2012|By John P. Huston, Chicago Tribune reporter

A lawsuit that challenged the validity of the April 2011 tax rate increase referendum for Wilmette School District 39 has been dismissed.

The original suit was filed by Wilmette resident Herb Sorock and the Taxpayers United of America, a nonprofit advocacy organization. It claimed the language on the ballot was misleading, because it did not include a multiplier in its calculation to present voters with an estimated impact.

A motion from Sorock and TUA to voluntarily dismiss an appeal pending at the First District Appellate Court was accepted Dec. 7. But Sorock said he considered the lawsuit to be a minor victory, citing state legislation signed in August that clarified the existing law to ensure future referenda language are written to include a multiplier.

"We were vindicated in that we were correct all along," Sorock said. "If that referendum from a year and a half ago were on the ballot today, it would be manifestly wrong and illegal, without the slightest question."

District 39 issued a press release that said the legislation, Public Act 97-1087, "reinforced that the District's ballot language correctly followed Illinois law as it existed at that time."

Sorock said the district's characterization was misleading, but District 39 School Board President Karen Donnan wrote in an email that she stood by the statement.

"The law has changed to mandate different wording than what was required in 2011," she wrote. "The case has run its course, and we prevailed every step of the way."

The legislation, introduced by State Sen. Don Harmon,D-Oak Park, said it was "intended to clarify the existing requirements of this Section, and shall not be construed to validate any prior non-compliant referendum language."

Sorock's suit, which was combined with a similar suit against Oak Park School District 97, argued that misleading ballot language underestimated the actual impact to a resident's property tax bill by not including a multiplier, which is calculated when figuring Cook County residential taxes.

Based on what appeared on the ballot alone, a voter could have believed the referendum's impact to be more than three times less than in reality, the Cook County Township Assessors organization said at the time.

In the District 39 press release, Donnan said the lawsuit cost more than $54,000 to defend.

"These are taxpayer dollars that should be used for the education of children in our community," she said, in the release. "District 39 can now focus its resources and attention where it belongs, on our students."

Voters approved the referendum with 63 percent voting in favor.

District administrators had projected a $5.5 million deficit, and school board responded by authorizing a tax rate increase referendum aimed at raising $6.4 million.

Officials said a higher tax rate — which they equated to a $696 increase for a resident with a $12,000 property tax bill — would give the district at least five years of financial health and prevent program cuts and class size increases.

Sorock said he's happy the state statute was clarified with regard to referendum ballot language in order to prevent future confusion.

"Even though we didn't recover the money or anything, it feels good that you were finally recognized," he said.